Drive was an American
heavy metal band from
Houston,
Texas, formed by guitarist Rick Chavez. They released two albums, ''Characters in Time'' (1988) and ''Diablero'' (1992), while active and an archives release, ''iDefi'', dedicated to the memory of Chavez and vocalist David Taylor, in 2017.
History
Drive formed in
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, in the mid-1980s when its members were barely out of high school; but the band soon moved to
Los Angeles, which had become the center of the hard rock scene. After winning a
KNAC radio contest with their song "I Need The Nights", Drive landed on the 1987 ''10 Best From the West'' compilation released by Rampage Records, the hard rock division of
Rhino Records. Rampage signed the band and, in July 1988, Drive released their debut album, ''Characters in Time''.
The album received good reviews from the industry's hard rock press, including the coveted 5 “K” rating from ''
Kerrang!''. The album also received airplay from hard rock stations around the country, including KNAC in Los Angeles.
Drive recorded their sophomore effort, ''Diablero'', for Rampage and advance tapes were circulating at the time, but the album's release was put on hold. At the turn of the decade the band left Rampage and signed with
Zoo Entertainment, a new
BMG BMG may refer to:
Organizations
* Music publishing companies:
** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008
*** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...
label, that would later become connected with the band
Tool. In 1992, the band released a re-worked version of ''Diablero'' to rave reviews from the metal underground.
A shake-up at the label along with the dawn of the metal-killing
grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
scene left the album without much of a push, and the band's recording career was put on hold, as members moved back to Texas. There Chavez and Taylor assembled one last Drive line-up, featuring bassist Mike Ribiero and drummer Carlos Cervantes, before putting things on hold. The break became permanent and Drive would not perform as a band again.
On June 25, 2009, while driving along a
San Antonio, Texas interstate, lead singer David Taylor lost control of his vehicle due to a tire malfunction and crashed. He was airlifted to an area hospital where he died of his injuries five days later. He was 44 years old.
Eventually, founding member Rick Chavez was approached by German-American re-issue label 20th Century Music about releasing an album of unreleased material. The release, titled ''iDefi'', surfaced in late 2017 and included "Inherit the Wind" and "Insanity" from the unreleased Rampage version of ''Diablero'', alternate Spanish language versions of "Once Again" ("Otra Vez") and "Pandilla", also originally from ''Diablero'', and various demos. Chavez died on February 25, 2017, from internal bleeding,
and did not live to see the album's release.
Members
*David Taylor – lead vocals (deceased in 2009)
*Rick Chavez – guitar, vocals (deceased in 2017)
*Mercy Valdez – guitar on ''Characters in Time'' & ''Diablero''
*Mike Conde – guitar on ''Diablero''
*Michael Anthony Guerrero – bass
*Valentine San Miguel – drums on ''Diablero''
Session musician on ''Characters in Time'':
*
Eric Singer - drums
Additional musicians on ''iDefi'':
*Mike Ribiero - bass
*Carlos "PeeWee" Cervantes - drums
Discography
* ''Characters in Time'' (Rhino/Rampage, 1988)
* ''Diablero'' (Zoo Entertainment, 1992)
* ''iDefi'' (20th Century Music, 2017)
References
{{Authority control
Heavy metal musical groups from Texas
Musical quintets